1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates, in general, water faucets and, more particularly, to the handles associated with valves coupled to water faucets, for the activation and deactivation of the supply of water thereto.
2. General Background of the Invention
Water faucets, such as those typically employed in restrooms and kitchens, include a variety of basic design types, including ball-type faucets, disc-type faucets, cartridge-type faucets, and compression-type faucets. Examples of each of these types of faucets may be found, for example, in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,740,836, 3,736,959, 3,943,967, and 4,1344,20, respectively, the entirety of each of which U.S. patents are hereby incorporated by reference. In other faucet designs, manually pressing down upon an actuator commands the faucet to emit water for a predetermined period of time.
According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and prevention, sanitation and hygiene are critical to health, survival, and development, and a significant amount of disease could be prevented through better access to adequate sanitation facilities and better hygiene practices. For example, throughout the world, infectious diarrhea, which may be caused by viruses, parasites and bacteria, is a leading cause of disease and death. Most recently, the epidemic levels reached by the H1N1 influenza virus has caused considerable concern.
According to a 2007 study by the Hygiene Council and funded by Reckitt Benckiser, the kitchen faucet handle and the bathroom faucet handle are the sixth and seventh locations in U.S. homes having the highest concentration of bacteria, containing 13,227 and 6,267 bacteria per square inch, respectively.
People are often trained from a young age to wash their hands when dirty and after using the restroom. Typically, when washing the hands in a sink having a conventional water faucet, the user turns the water on by turning a sink handle, applies soap to the hands and lathers by rubbing the hands together, rinse the soap off of the hands, and the turns the sink handle once again to turn off the water. Upon doing so, the user is touching and grasping the very same handle, in the very same, potentially unsanitary condition, as it was immediately prior to washing the hands.
In the past, certain approaches have been tried to inhibit the transmission of have bacteria and viruses via unsanitary water faucet handles. For example, proximity sensors have been employed proximate water faucets to turn the water on and off automatically when hands are placed beneath, and subsequently removed from, the faucet. While effective in removing the requirement to touch a faucet handle when washing, such automatic systems are relatively costly expensive to implement initially, or to retrofit existing systems, and require a source of electrical energy to power the sensor and associated valve actuator. Moreover, such automated systems typically do not enable the user to control the temperature of the water or the pressure of the water that is dispensed.
Another approach that has been employed is the use of a foot-actuated pedal to control the flow of water from a faucet. Such foot-operated systems are again relatively costly to implement (as compared to conventional systems), typically do not permit the user to adjust water temperature and pressure, and are not considered aesthetically pleasing to many.
Yet another approach are systems that include water flow actuators wherein the user presses down on a knob in order to initiate a flow of water for a predetermined period of time. This may be troublesome to many, however, as the time allotted for water flow may be considered too short requiring the user to push the handle down many times during a single hand washing, potentially contaminating the hands with each supplemental press of the actuator. Moreover, such press-type systems may be relatively expensive to retrofit into existing installations.